Alan Garcia, Peru’s two-time president, came out hard Tuesday against allowing the Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights, known as Movadef, from registering as a political party.
Movadef has close links with the Shining Path, the Maoist-inspired insurgency that launched a bloody battle against the state during the 1980s and 1990s. The conflict led to some 70,000 deaths, with about 54 percent caused by the Shining Path, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Today, the Shining Path is a shadow of its former self, with little of its ideology and none of its original cadres intact. It reached its peak during the late 1980s, when Garcia was in his first term.
Movadef is seeking a general amnesty for everyone who was jailed as a result of the conflict, including Shining Path founder and leader, Abimael Guzman. The government has sent a bill to Congress to have the group blocked from registering as a party, even though it collected enough signatures.
“These people did a lot of damage to Peru,” said Garcia, who was also president from 2006 to 2011. “During 20 years, they prevented investments, economic advances, and during 20 years they killed tens of thousands of Peruvians.”
